Downtime With Shepard
by sesheta255
Summary: Shepard had not been the easiest person to live with since Horizon so Joker decides she needs a hobby.  This is the first of many...
1. Chapter 1

_More random stupidity set in ME2. Jaer gave me the idea so blame her, lol._

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 – Smoke Gets In Your Eyes<strong>

Shepard walked into the mess to find Joker and some of the crew playing Skillian Five. "Deal me in for the next hand, Joker. What are the stakes?"

Several of the crew members groaned and put down their cards.

"Uh, no offense Shepard, but no-one wants to play with you." Joker placed his cards face down on the table and grinned at her.

"Why not? I'm not a bad loser."

Joker snorted. "Tell that to the merc you pushed out the window. Sorry Shepard but none of us want to be in the firing line of a warp field. Besides, Donnelly already warned us not to play with you."

"Fine, if you won't play with me I'll just have to find something else to do." She gave him a sideways look and grinned. "Maybe now would be a good time for EDI to teach me how to fly the Normandy."

"It's moments like this when I really wish you had knocked Alenko out and dragged him aboard on Horizon. If he hadn't taken his bat and balls and gone home in a huff you'd have someone to play with."

Her eyes narrowed. "Be careful I don't take my bat to your balls."

Joker laughed. "You have a bat? Shit, Cerberus really stuffed up on the upgrades."

She crossed her arms and stared at him. "Joker, what's my favourite weapon?"

"Aw, too easy Commander. That would be the rocket launcher. I think you're compensating for something, which brings us back to the Cerberus upgrades."

Her voice took on a warning tone that Joker was familiar with. "Do I need to go the armory and show you how well I can compensate?"

Joker decided it was time for a retreat and rapidly changed the subject. "What you really need is a hobby, other than collecting mentally unstable killers that is. Why don't you take up cooking or something?"

She thought about it for a moment. "That's not a bad idea. I'm sure I can whip something up in no time, and since you're all in the mess anyway, you guys get to be the first ones to taste it."

Joker threw his cards down on the table and started to rise. "Well I think that's about enough for me. I'm sure EDI needs me back on the bridge for something."

"Freeze, Joker. That's an order." She grinned wickedly at him, "This was your idea, so none of you are going anywhere till I try my hand at cooking something and you all eat it."

Garrus sighed in relief, "Well that lets me out. I'll see you later, I've got some….."

Shepard stared at him and placed her hands on her hips. "Garrus if you tell me you've got calibrations I will hurt you. Sit. I'm sure I can cook something that you can eat as well."

She ignored the whispering coming from the table as she shooed Gardner out of the mess and set to work finding interesting looking ingredients.

As she dug through the cupboards Joker called out, "Ah, Shepard. Did you ask Gardner for a recipe before you sent him away?"

"Joker, I don't need a recipe. Gardner manages to come up with edible stuff, how hard can it be?"

"You do know that if you poison me you won't have anyone to fly the Normandy."

"That's okay Joker, I'm sure finding a smartass pilot can't be that hard."

Joker and the other crew members continued to play cards unenthusiastically as they waited for Shepard to cook them a meal. The swearing and banging of pots did not help their poker faces at all. An hour later Shepard placed a bubbling pot on the table.

"There you go. Dig in," she said proudly.

Joker looked into the pot and screwed up his nose at the smell wafting from it. "Shepard, it's grey. You can't seriously expect us to eat that. What the hell is it anyway?"

"It's just a little something I like to call Shepard Surprise, and it's suitable for Garrus and Tali to eat too."

"Yeah, the surprise being if we manage to survive." Joker said trying to lean as far as possible away from the pot.

"Tali's lucky she's not here." Garrus said despondently.

"What was that Garrus?"

"I said Tali's unlucky to be missing this," he muttered quietly.

"You'll just have to eat some for her as well," Shepard grinned at him as she spooned a double helping into his bowl.

Garrus stood abruptly. "I'm sorry, Shepard. You know that I'd follow you to hell and back but this is one time when my courage fails me." He made a hasty retreat back to the relative safety of the main battery.

Joker looked at the bowl he was handed with the spoon standing straight up in it. "Congratulations Shepard, you've made industrial strength glue. Should come in handy next time the Normandy's hull needs repairs."

"Stop your whining and eat." Shepard continued to fill bowls. "No one is leaving this table until I see you all start eating." She watched in satisfaction as they all hesitantly brought their spoons to their mouths.

Joker thought about spitting it out but the look on Shepard's face and the smoke that was starting to billow from the kitchen forced him to swallow. "Shepard, I don't mean to alarm you but I think you've set the Normandy on fire."

She turned and rushed to the oven as fire alarms started to sound. "God damn it Joker. This is your fault. If you had just tried it without me having to stand over you I wouldn't have burnt the main course."

"You mean there's more?" He shouted to her. "This is payback for getting you killed isn't it?"

By the time she managed to get the fire out the whole mess was blanketed by smoke and her food tasters had all made themselves scarce.

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><p>The next morning she walked into the mess after checking on everyone in medbay to be confronted with a very angry Gardner.<p>

"Shepard what the hell is going on? I've spent all morning working on the plumbing because it was overloaded, now I have to try and clean this crap off my kitchen benches. I know you are a hero and my commanding officer but stay the fuck out of my kitchen from now on and stick to killing Collectors instead of trying to kill your crew."

She patted him on the back. "It's not that bad, Gardner, you just don't like the competition."

"What competition?" He asked as he furiously scrubbed at the kitchen bench. "You've got half the crew down with either food poisoning or smoke inhalation."

Joker's voice came weakly over the comm, "The doc is working overtime. I hope the Illusive Man is paying you well or you find a lot more crates to poke around in because I think you're going to have to spring for a lot more brandy."

She ignored Gardner who was now muttering under his breath and headed for the CIC. "Just remember that this was your idea, Joker."

"You never take anything I say seriously, Shepard. You picked a hell of a time to start listening to me." He stopped and made retching noises. "You've also managed to scare Hawthorne and Goldstein away from their favourite spot."

"Well, at least now they have plenty of time to do, oh, I don't know, their jobs."

"Maybe that advice that you should take yourself Shepard. Just stick to shooting things from now on." Joker said before abruptly terminating the comm.

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><p><em>Next chapter Shepard will try her hand at flower arranging<em>


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**A Rose By Any Other Name**

"Hey Joker, what's with all the cargo that got loaded at the Citadel?" Shepard asked walking onto the bridge.

Joker turned his chair to face her, "You mean apart from the med supplies the Doc needed to restock after the great Shepard cooking fiasco?"

She sighed. "Damn it Joker, I've already apologised to everyone for that and promised not to go near a kitchen again ever, so can we just drop it?"

"I sure as hell hope Kaidan can cook, or being biotics you two are going to starve when you eventually hook up."

"Joker." She said sternly. "The cargo? And why does the manifest say flowers?"

"Well, Miranda suggested that you might want to take up flower arranging as a hobby. It's supposed to be soothing and it will let you get in touch with your creative side. There's also not much potential for you to hurt anyone which was a pretty important consideration as far as the crew were concerned."

Shepard stared at him for a moment and shrugged. "I'm not really into flowers, but I guess I could give it a go."

"We've set up an area down in the cargo bay for you, and even got you a 'how to' vid to watch."

She turned and headed off the bridge. "Okay then, I'll be in the cargo bay if you need me."

Shepard watched the video and proceeded to go through the supplies to get what she needed to make her first flower arrangement. A few hours later she went in search of her squad so she could show off her work. She found Jack and Kasumi and proudly displayed her efforts.

"Look what I've made, my very first flower arrangement." Shepard said holding up a bedraggled looking flower arrangement.

Jack looked from the arrangement to Shepard and rolled her eyes. "These things are supposed to have a theme right? Fuck, what's the theme for this one Shepard, Die Mercs Die?"

"Well I was going for sunset over the Citadel." She replied in a slightly hurt voice. "You just don't appreciate art. I should have known better than to show it to you Jack."

Jack turned to Kasumi, "You're a thief, presumably you steal art, what so you think of Shepard's whatever the hell it is?"

Kasumi looked at the rapidly wilting flower arrangement. "Shepard has already roped me into one suicide mission, I'm not crazy enough to be roped into two."

Shepard scowled at both of them. "Fine, I'll try to come up with something that meets your very high standards." She turned and headed back to the cargo bay.

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><p><em>An hour later on the bridge…<em>

"Mr. Moreau?"

"What is it this time, EDI?" Joker gave an impatient sigh. "Shepard already told you to cut me some slack on the report tweaking."

"You might want to check on Shepard. Her heart rate is climbing rapidly. She appears to be under some stress."

Joker dismissed her, "I think your readings are off. She's just playing with her flowers, what harm could she do?"

EDI's voice became insistent. "Mr. Moreau, there are shots being fired in the cargo bay."

He turned towards the monitor to see what Shepard was up to. She appeared to be pulling flower petals off one at a time and doing the he loves me, he loves me not thing. It ended up with he loves me not and after some angry muttering Shepard pulled out her pistol and shot the stem. "Oh shit!" He reached for the comm.

"Garrus, you better get down to the cargo bay. Shepard is shooting flowers."

"She's doing what?" Garrus muttered under his breath. "Crap! Why me?"

"You're the only one wearing armour at the moment."

Garrus sighed, "On my way."

He arrived in the cargo bay to see Shepard stamping on stems and shooting wildly at the boxes of flower arranging supplies. "Damn it Shepard, put down the pistol before someone gets hurt."

"That's it. I've had it with these damn flowers." She looked towards the box of flowers, "Damn stupid lying flowers, what would you know?" She asked pulling a grenade from her belt.

Garrus rushed forward and grabbed the grenade. "That's it Shepard, no more flowers. Why don't you go to your cabin and have a rest, we'll be coming up Ilium soon and I'm sure there will be some mercs you can shoot."

Garrus watched her go and hit the comm. "Joker, next time you start Shepard off on a new hobby make sure you frisk her first."

Joker laughed. "Yeah, because that wouldn't be dangerous at all. Who knew that Shepard could turn flower arranging into mortal combat?"

"Looks like the Illusive Man was right about this being a suicide mission. Although he probably thought the danger would come from the Collectors not Shepard."

"Hey don't worry Garrus, we just need to get her mind off Alenko. I've got plenty of other hobbies for Shepard to try her hand at."

Garrus shuddered. "That's what I'm afraid of Joker."

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><p>Shepard tries her hand at fishing next<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Go Fish**

Shepard paced in her cabin arguing with Joker over the comm.

"C'mon, Shepard, it will do you good. We can spare a couple of hours and you look like you're in need of some R & R. I've been told it's a very relaxing past time."

"Joker I just had two years of…," she thought for a moment, "well two years of whatever the hell I was. That was sort of like R & R in that I don't remember a damn thing, except that I didn't have the fun of getting drunk and doing something embarrassing."

"See that's why you need to take some time and relax. You can't hide out in your cabin staring at Alenko's photo for the entire mission."

She shook her head. "No, we can't spare the time. I've still got to put a team together."

"Well, if you won't do it for yourself, do it for Garrus." Joker pulled his trump card knowing that she would do almost anything to help a squad mate. "He's been pretty tense lately. Let him think he's helping you relax, but really you'll be helping him."

"Fine. I'll spend 2 hours putting slimy things on hooks if it will get you off my back."

"Great, I'll let Garrus know. We'll be there in half an hour." Joker cut the comm while he had her grudging acceptance of the plan.

Shepard sighed and looked at Kaidan's photo. "This is all your fault you know. You will make it up to me for all of Joker's nagging if it's the last thing you do." She grinned. _Talking to myself is not a good sign, maybe I do need to relax._

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><p>Two hours later she was sitting beside a lake on a backwater planet with Garrus and neither of them was in the best of moods.<p>

"I'm going for a walk." Garrus muttered angrily as he stalked off.

Shepard watched his retreating figure and called out in a tone that was not placating. "C'mon Garrus I've already said I'm sorry. It's not like I did it on purpose."

Garrus turned and stared at her. "You did it twice, Shepard. Twice!"

"You took a rocket to the face, a little thing like a fish hook isn't going to hurt you."

"It wouldn't have happened if you weren't whirling the line around your head like a demented cowpoke." Garrus had made his way back to her and threw himself into his chair.

Shepard was having trouble stifling her laughter at Garrus' indignation. It had been funny when she had managed to not only hook his mandible but slap him in the face with the smelly live bait Joker had supplied them with.

They fell into an uneasy silence for a short time before Shepard's patience started to give out as they waited for any sign of a bite on the lines that they had finally managed to get into the lake.

"This is ridiculous. Why do I let myself listen to Joker's cockamamie ideas?" She threw her hands in the air as she stood and started pacing on the sand.

"We could always go and scout for some mercs to shoot." Garrus said scanning the area.

She began fiddling with her pistol. "Nice thought but EDI already scanned the planet. It's just us and the nonexistent fish."

"Isn't this something humans are supposed to find relaxing because you don't seem very relaxed, Shepard." Garrus asked eying her pistol warily.

She stopped pacing and gave him a look that usually had people backing away from her. "Neither do you. How the hell am I supposed to relax, Garrus? The Collectors are still out there and I'm sitting on my ass while Joker's up to who knows what in my ship."

"We could always call the shuttle to come and get us." Garrus said hopefully.

She sighed remembering that this was supposed to be helping Garrus. "I promised Joker that I'd stay here for a few hours and I am not leaving until I catch something to take back to the ship."

Garrus looked unenthusiastically at the jar of worm like creatures Joker had provided. "Maybe we have the wrong bait."

"You think?" She asked sarcastically. "The damn things will die of old age before they get manage to entice anything and we might do the same."

"We might get better results if we look around here for some more suitable bait."

"Or we can take the fight to the fish in their own territory." She grabbed some fishing gear and took off down the shore at a brisk pace. "Didn't we see a canoe further along the shore?"

"Didn't I ever tell you that Turians and water don't mix? I've got a bad feeling about this," Garrus muttered as he trailed along behind her.

Garrus looked around nervously as they paddled across the lake. "Shepard, I don't think we're alone out here. I've caught glimpses of a shadow following us."

She turned and grinned at him. "Oh, stop being a baby and keep paddling. Were your ancestors chickens? We're almost at the perfect spot."

He grumbled and kept his eyes on the water. "Yeah, the perfect spot to be some creatures lunch. Damn, that shadow is definitely following us, time to go back to shore Shepard."

She sighed. "Fine, I'll check it out." She put the paddle down and stood up to get a better look at the water.

"What the hell are you doing? Sit down for god's sake."

He tried to grab her as she turned suddenly but it was too late. He spluttered and tried to avoid drowning as he struggled to grab hold of anything he could to stay afloat. He managed to grab the capsized canoe and was about to berate Shepard who was happily paddling around in the water when something grabbed his leg. He heard her yell his name as he was dragged under.

She dove under the water searching for him and managed to grab his arm and drag him back to the surface. He had time to grab hold of one of the paddles they had been using as he was dragged back under again. The water churned around her for a moment before he popped back up to the surface flailing wildly.

"Garrus, you okay?" She asked as she grabbed him before he went under again. "Don't worry, I'll get you back to shore."

She dragged him onto the shore where he lay struggling for breath. "It's a good thing you didn't drown, I'm not sure I could give you mouth to mouth."

"I was almost lunch for that creature, and you're worried about giving me mouth to mouth? Why didn't you use your biotics?" He panted between gulping breaths of air.

"You were handling things just fine. Guess it's true, Turians really do have sticks up their asses as a backup weapon."

"Laugh it up Shepard," Garrus responded weakly.

"Just let me know when you want to put it back so I can make myself scarce, that's probably not something I want to see."

"Can we call the shuttle now? I've had enough of this lake."

Shepard stood contemplating the lake. "I've got a better idea."

"Shepard, wait…."

* * *

><p>An hour later they both let out a sigh of relief as the shuttle landed on the Normandy. Garrus grumbled as they stepped onto the ship.<p>

Joker was monitoring their arrival and couldn't keep the laughter from his voice as he addressed Garrus over the comm. "You look a bit wet, Garrus, I didn't think Turians could swim. What the hell happened?"

"What do you think happened, Joker? Shepard happened." Garrus shouted.

"Don't blame me. You thought my plan would work." Shepard replied indignantly.

"I didn't have a choice. I was still recovering from nearly drowning, not to mention being eaten, you just let rip with your biotics. I'm damn lucky I didn't get shot as well." Garrus threw Shepard an angry look and muttered in Turian under his breath. "I damn well hope Shepard's relaxed because it will take me a while to get over this so called relaxing fishing trip."

Shepard grinned at him. "I'm getting more relaxed by the second."

"C'mon, don't leave me hanging. I want details." Joker pleaded over the comm.

"Hey Joker, that thing about Turians having sticks up their asses is true. I saw Garrus'."

"What his ass?"

Shepard shuddered. "Oh god, don't even go there Joker. Eww. No, his stick." Hearing Joker snickering she added, "And don't go there either."

"I'll give you details." He pointed angrily at Shepard. "She had the brilliant idea of paddling around in an old canoe in a lake that was home to a damn sea monster who apparently liked the taste of Turians. We only just made it to shore when she saw a bubble and started shooting wildly at it. When that didn't work she threw a warp at the damn thing. Next thing I know she hit the damn lake with a singularity and emptied half of it on top of me."

"Well, you have to admit that I was right. You've got the fish to prove it." Shepard pointed to the collar of Garrus' armour which was filled with water and had a small fish swimming around in it.

Joker was laughing in earnest now. "Is that seaweed you have wrapped around your head some sort of Turian courtship symbol? I didn't think you were into humans."

"Courtship! Shepard? I'd rather go hand to hand with a reaper. Kaidan is welcome to her."

Shepard laughed. "He's just embarrassed that we know about his plan to get Kelly to feed his fish. You know you really don't need to court Kelly, Garrus."

Joker sniggered. "Garrus, you do know that Kelly's offer to feed your fish is just a euphemism right? You really didn't need to actually get fish."

"Where are you going?" Shepard asked as Garrus stalked off angrily.

"To dry off, and then to the armory to get a bigger gun."

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><p><em>Hmm, not sure what to do next, could be knitting, lol<em>


	4. Chapter 4

_This chapter has driven me crazy over the last couple of weeks. I'm not 100% hapopy with it but I've decided to publish it warts and all to get it out of my hair, lol_

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Knit Wit**

"Knitting!" Shepard yelled incredulously at her pilot. "That's for people that are too old to fight anymore."

"No, it's not, Shepard, a lot of people knit. Look, we've got you a how to vid and lots of blue wool." He held up a few skeins of royal blue wool. "Isn't that the colour you like on Alenko? You could knit something for him."

She reached out to touch the soft blue wool. "Well, I guess I could give it a try. It would be a nice surprise for Kaidan when I see him next."

"Yeah, and it's something you can do while you pine over his photo in your cabin."

She snatched the wool from his hands and headed off the bridge. "I'll be in my cabin."

Garrus watched her leave before turning to Joker. "Are you sure about this Joker? None of your schemes to occupy Shepard have worked so far."

"Garrus, it's something she can do on her own without involving anyone else." Joker shrugged. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Garrus groaned. "This is Shepard we're talking about. You do remember that the flower arranging was something she could do on her own as well don't you?"

"You worry too much, Garrus. This time I think we've hit on the right idea."

"Just don't come crying to me to bail you out because I 'have armour on'. After the fishing fiasco I don't intend to be anywhere alone with Shepard that isn't a battlefield."

Joker laughed. "Well technically I think you could class the fishing trip as a battlefield. Between Shepard and the sea monster you're lucky to have survived. You're not worried about her having a gun in her hand in combat?"

"No, it seems to be the only place where her squad mates are safe from her. Damn, I wish Kaidan was here. He might be able to keep her in line."

"Yeah, because he managed that so well last time." Joker shook his head. "Kaidan has no idea when it comes to women."

"I'm not sure whether I want to find him and beg him to come back, or to shoot him. She was focused before Horizon."

"I don't recommend shooting him unless you have a death wish, Garrus. Anyone who hurts Kaidan will have Shepard to answer to."

"Yeah, one suicide mission at a time."

The Normandy crew settled into a relatively quiet routine over the next few weeks. Shepard was holed up in her cabin in between missions trying to teach herself how to knit, and the crew breathed a cautious sigh of relief that maybe Joker had found the right hobby for her. According to EDI her stress levels were quite high but at least there was no shortage of missions for her to take her frustrations out on….

* * *

><p>Shepard surveyed the battlefield. "Grunt, take out those turrets." She had been expecting him to charge at them but was speechless when he started hurling blue projectiles at them. "What the hell are you doing Grunt?"<p>

Grunt looked at her in disgust. "Shepard, these new grenades are worthless."

Garrus made a strangled sound beside her as she stared at the Krogan dumbfounded. "Of all the stupid…"she broke off and swore under her breath. "That's my damn wool you're throwing at mercs not grenades, and I want it back."

Garrus looked through the sites of his rifle. "The good news is that if the looks on their faces is anything to go by, we've got surprise on our side."

"Quick, call the Alliance and tell them we've discovered a new military strategy." She said sarcastically.

"Are you two going to talk all day or are we going to fight?" Grunt gave them a disgusted look before charging off towards the mercs.

Shepard spent the shuttle ride back to the Normandy scowling at Grunt as she looked at the tangled mess of wool he'd handed to her. "This wool had better be untangled by the time I need it. I suggest you two get to work on that as soon as we get back."

Garrus' mandibles moved up and down. "But I have…"

Before he could finish the sentence Shepard dumped the tangled mess into his hands. "Calibrate this Garrus, since you love doing it so much." She nodded towards Grunt. "He can help you."

She headed to the box in the cargo bay where any spare wool she had left should have been stored only to find it empty. "Joker," she bellowed, "Where the hell is my wool? Who's been down here recently?"

"I have no idea Shepard. The only person to be in the cargo bay while you were gone was Legion, although technically he isn't a person. Maybe I should have said the only individual ….oh wait he's not an individual either. Is he even a he?"

She headed towards the elevator. "Joker! Shut up and fly the damn ship."

She entered the AI core where Legion was stationed to find him with a couple of balls of wool stuffed into the hole on his chest. "Legion, why do you have my wool stuffed in your chest?"

"There was a hole, Shepard Commander."

"There will be more than a hole if anyone touches my wool again." She pulled the wool out of his chest and headed to her cabin.

"If I find out you put Grunt and Legion up to this Joker I will string you up with my damn wool."

"Nothing to do with me Shepard, I was kind of liking the peace around here. That would be like me making a noose for my own neck."

"I'd get much more satisfaction making it myself," she replied before shutting off the comm and going back to her knitting.

* * *

><p>Several weeks later Shepard walked into the mess to find Garrus, Jacob, and Joker just leaving after their evening meal. "Oh good, you're still here. I just have to put a few finishing touches on this and it will be done." She held up the cardigan she'd been knitting for Kaidan.<p>

Joker looked from Shepard to the cardigan several times. "That looks great Shepard, but it would keep all three of Kaidan's arms a lot warmer if it didn't have more holes than the last bunch of mercs you ran into."

She looked at the cardigan disgustedly. "Screw this. I hate knitting." She flung the knitting needles with such force that one embedded itself into a bread roll on the table. Jacob's howl of pain indicated where the other one had landed.

"Son of a bitch." Jacob sank into the nearest chair clutching his thigh.

Joker winced in sympathy. "Shit, that was close Jacob. Another inch and you'd have to rethink your prize line."

Jacob pulled the knitting needle from his thigh and waved it at Joker. "Keep talking and you'll be joining me in the damn medbay."

Shepard moved to help him. "I'll get you to Dr. Chakwas."

Jacob held up his hands, "Not you Shepard, you stay here."

"Garrus, help him to the medbay." She called out an apology as he left the mess. "Jacob, I'm so sorry."

While Dr. Chakwas tended to his wound Joker, Garrus, and Jacob tried to come up with a solution to keep Shepard occupied that wouldn't harm anyone else.

"Okay, who has a suggestion as to what can keep Shepard occupied before anyone else gets hurt?"

Garrus thought for a moment. "What about darts. We could set up a board in her cabin that way she'd be away from the crew."

Joker snorted. "Are you kidding? After what she almost did to Jacob I'm against anything that involves putting something sharp and pointy in Shepard's hands."

"Yeah, I'll second that."

"Welcome to the club, Jacob. You're not officially part of this squad unless you have a Shepard related mishap."

"Yeah, there's a reason why Garrus always keeps his armour on." Joker laughed.

Dr Chakwas looked up, "Why don't you just leave Shepard alone. You're just making it worse for yourselves by putting weapons into her hands."

"Says the woman who stays in the medbay away from Shepard." Joker grinned at her. "There's sure to be something that can keep her occupied."

"Keep who occupied?" Shepard asked walking into the medbay.

"Oh, I was just saying that this mission keeps Dr. Chakwas occupied." Joker replied as he stood up to head back to the bridge.

"Well, we knew going in that it wasn't going to be a picnic." Shepard commented as moved to stand beside Jacob. "How's he doing Doctor?"

"Oh, he'll be fine, although you may want to let him sit out the next mission."

"Jacob, I'm so sorry." Shepard said contritely. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Jacob gave a grunt of pain. "Yeah, maybe you could just stick to needling me verbally from now on Shepard."

* * *

><p><em>I have no idea what will be next, lol. It will have to be a surprise.<em>


End file.
